Night Watch in the Temple
The rain had finally stopped, but the scent of it still hung in the air, a clean, damp smell that clung to the stones of the courtyard. Inside the house of the Lord, the lamps flickered, casting long, dancing shadows…
The Whisper of Grace
The wind came down from the hills with the smell of dry earth and wild thyme. It was an old wind, one Elian had known all his life, and it whispered through the cracks in the stone walls of his…
The Old Man’s Psalm
The lamplight flickered, casting long, dancing shadows across the rough-hewn stone of the wall. Ezra’s hand, gnarled and veined like an old olive branch, trembled slightly as he dipped the reed pen into the small clay inkwell. The scent of…
A Craftsman’s Silent Prayer
The heat rose from the cobblestones in visible shimmers, distorting the edges of the grand houses lining the street. I sat in the shadowed corner of my small workshop, the scent of cedar and olive wood thick in the air….
My Hope Is Dust
The dust had settled deep into the folds of my robe, a fine, gritty powder that seemed the very substance of my days. It was no longer just on the ground; it was in my mouth, a constant taste of…
The Law’s Living Echo
The air in Jerusalem held that peculiar quality of a morning after a long and weary labor. The dust, once churned by countless feet hauling stone, had finally settled. A crispness, the kind that whispers of a turning season, lingered…
Hanun’s Folly
The heat lay thick over Rabbah, a heavy wool blanket soaked in the dust of the high plains. In the royal chambers, the air was still, smelling of cedar and myrrh and the faint, metallic tang of fear. King Hanun,…
The King’s Justice
The chamber smelled of crushed mint and myrrh, the air thick and still. King David lay propped on a mound of cushions, his skin like old parchment stretched over bone. The great strength that had felled giants and built a…
Dan’s Stolen Idols
The road dust rose in pale clouds around their sandals, five men walking with the grim purpose of those sent to find something they could not yet name. They were Danites, from the tribe squeezed thin between the sea and…
Canaan’s New Altar
The dust rose in soft plumes around their sandals, a fine chalky powder that settled on wool robes and clung to sweating skin. For forty years they had known only wilderness dust, but this was different. This dust smelled of…